Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has expressed support for under-fire England captain Alastair Cook. Ganguly, who is currently involved as a commentator in the ongoing series, believes the the captain alone is not to be blamed in such circumstances.

“It might just be a blessing in disguise if captaincy is taken away from him but I am never a supporter of a captain being asked to leave. I don’t know what will happen to his future as captain but the English selectors will be horrified at the thought of losing Cook the batsman,” the Bengal southpaw was quoted as saying to The Times of India.

England slid to a 95-run defeat on Monday against India which extended the home side’s winless streak to 10 Tests. His poor form with the bat hasn’t helped either, with his last century coming over a year ago.The 29-year-old managed to cement a spot in the team in spite of all the furore around him, mainly due to the backing from coach Peter Moores.

Cook, who has led the side since taking over the reigns from Andrew Strauss in 2012, has been facing flak from all corners in the recent past. There have been calls for him being sacked from a number of well-known figures in English cricket, including former captains Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Vaughan and Michael Atherton.

Cook has taken up the responsibility of guiding England through a lean patch following their Ashes-hammering in Australia. Ganguly,who took charge as captain at a time when India had not fully recovered from the match-fixing scandal shock, feels that the results of the changes introduced by a new captain takes a while.

“The selectors must also realise that a captain is as good as his team and they should focus on picking match-winners even if they may not have buckets of runs in county cricket. They panicked after the Ashes and I just get a feeling that English crickets decisions depend on Ashes and that is so wrong. Yes, they were ordinary in Australia but some of the radical changes they have made will hurt them for a while now.”

First Published on July 23, 2014 6:08 PM ISTLast updated on July 23, 2014 6:13 PM IST